WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The first home match up of the New Year was set to be an exciting one as both teams looked to make a push for the top spot in the AUS standings during the second half of the season. Saint Mary’s entered the game only one point behind the Acadia Axemen in the standings. Prior to tonight’s Axemen 5-4 win, the Huskies lead the regular season series of four games 2-0 with both games being won by only a single goal.

The Huskies wasted no time opening the scoring early, two minutes in, capitalizing on an Acadia turn over below the goal line, Alex Cord netted his first goal of the regular season under the blocker arm of Brandon Glover.

Following a Saint Mary’s hooking call, Michael Clarke capitalized off of a miscue by a Huskie defenseman, returning the favour just 76 seconds later, rifling one off the cross bar and in.

With under a minute to play in the opening frame, third year forward Brett Thompson caught Huskies on a line change, allowing him to break away on his own, scoring on Anthony Peters on the far side to give Acadia their first lead.

The lead didn’t last long as the Huskies took advantage of a powerplay with 7 seconds remaining in the period. Kyle Pereira wired a slap shot through traffic that fooled Glover, tying the game at two-a-piece.

The second frame started with an abundance of chances for both teams, however six minutes into the period, Acadia got caught on a pinch, allowing a Huskie forward to come in one-on-one with an Axemen defenseman. Stephen Johnson, who scored the overtime winner in the last meeting of both teams, scored a beautiful goal by deking out an Acadia defender and out waiting Glover who was sprawled out desperately trying to make the save.

Just over six minutes later the Axemen scored on the powerplay again. After a rare “illegal equipment” call, due to the Saint Mary’s player not wearing his helmet properly. Acadia scored on the powerplay for the second time in the game. Rookie forward Remy Giftopolous, snapped a shot that beat Peters’ glove hand side through traffic, scoring his sixth goal of the season and first to two goals of the night.

Opening the third period, Bradley Greene found room alone in front of the net in the high slot during four on four action and made no mistake, giving the Huskies their third lead of the game.

With seven minutes remaining in the final period, Giftopolous, with a heads up play, caught Peters on his post and pulled off a wrap-around goal to earn himself his second goal of the night and the game’s first star honours with a three points. Giftopolous’s goal tied the game at four.

On an innocent looking one timer from just inside the blueline, veteran Chris Owens scored the eventual game winner with 1:03 remaining in the game.

Acadia captain Liam Heelis received the game’s third star, with one assist on the night, while Huskie forward Stephen Johnson picked up the games second star of the game.

Brandon Glover played very well making 27 saves, while his counterpart Anthony Peters made 24.

Acadia next home game is scheduled for Friday, January 16 as they take on the struggling St. Thomas Tommies. The Axemen head to Antigonish tomorrow night to take on the StFX X-Men, while the Huskies return home to take on the Dalhousie Tigers who picked up a 3-2 win over StFX this past Friday night.

Dana Fraser got his UNB Varsity Reds career off to a good start on Friday night.

The Varsity Reds’ newest addition had a goal and two shots as he helped UNB defeat his former team, the UPEI Panthers, in Atlantic University Sport men’s hockey action at the Aitken Centre. The Truro native opened the scoring at 11:46 of the first period.

“I was in front of the net and the puck came to me and I just slid it home,” said Fraser. “It was nice to get that first one off my back – especially against my old team. I know a couple of the other boys were heckling me out there so it was nice to get that.”

“I was there four years and I made a lot of good friends and stuff. It was fun to play them. It was good to see that they still had that respect for me [after] switching teams. I know I still have that respect for them.”

Tyler Carroll also scored in the win while Philippe Maillet added an empty net goal and two assists. David Shantz had a strong performance in net, making 18 saves.

UPEI’s lone goal came from Chris Desousa in the second period. Mavric Parks made 32 saves in the loss, including several stops from point blank range.

The Varsity Reds got off to a good start in the opening period but the Panthers quickly countered with a couple of quality scoring chances. A blast from Reginaldo Traccitto rang off the post and then, soon after, Shantz had to make a quick pad save off a Brent Andrews shot from the slot. Fraser’s goal at 11:46 gave the Reds a 1-0 advantage, a lead they would hang on to entering intermission.

Despite being outshot 12-6 in the first, UPEI had a couple good chances late in the frame, including another shot from Andrews that Shantz had to make a nice stop off of.

Parks continued his solid play in the second period, robbing Cam Braes with a glove save on a power play and then denying Dylan Willick on a shorthanded breakaway. The UPEI netminder the robbed Willick again a few minutes later, stopping a one time chance from the top of the crease.

The Varsity Reds headed to a five-on-three man advantage at 15:58. On the power play at 16:21, Jordan Murray fired a shot from the top of the circle that was tipped past Parks by Carroll to give UNB a 2-0 lead.

The Panthers quickly got back within one with a power play goal. At 18:31, Desousa beat Shantz, making it a 2-1 game after two. Shots were 15-6 in favour of the Reds in the second period.

Both goaltenders had strong performances in the third. Both sides were awarded power play time as well but neither could connect.

The Panthers pulled Parks with 1:15 remaining, setting up Maillet’s empty net goal at 19:38 to give UNB a 3-1 victory. Final shots were 35-19 in favour of the V-Reds.

“I thought it was a good, hard fought battle which you expect. We had a great opponent,” said Varsity Reds head coach Gardiner MacDougall. “They played hard and I thought we had some good opportunities. We got the lead which I think is a real key and we had chances to extend it. We had to wait until the end to get the extension but I thought overall [it was] a pretty solid effort against a real good opponent.”

The Varsity Reds return to action on Sunday afternoon when they travel to the Université de Moncton to take on the Aigles Bleus. The Panthers visit the St. Thomas Tommies tomorrow night.

The Dalhousie Tigers stunned the StFX X-Men tonight at the Halifax Forum, winning 3-2 as they captured their fifth victory of the season. Despite being outshot 40-17, Corbin Boes came up huge for the Tigers with 38 saves to steal the victory. Fabian Walsh led the way offensively for the Tigers with two goals, including the eventual game winner early in the third period.

Walsh opened the scoring midway through the first period and Andrew Wigginton added his third of the season in the second period as the Tigers opened up a 2-0 lead heading into the final frame. Jagger Dirk helped the X-Men cut into the lead when he fired an absolute bomb past Corbin Boes six minutes into the third, making it a 3-1 game.

With two minutes left in the third, Eric Locke made it a one-goal game as he got one past Boes on the powerplay. Despite a tough season overall, the Tigers penalty kill has been the team’s biggest strength, and they lead the AUS with an 83.5% penalty kill.

The X-Men pulled Drew Owsley with just under a minute left with desperation starting to set in. Despite a flurry of chances in the dying seconds, Boes turned them away time and time again, including a lightning-quick glove save with ten seconds left that stopped play which led to a faceoff in the Tigers end. The X-Men won the draw, but Boes stood tall and the Tigers came away with the 3-2 victory. After the whistle, a scuffle ensued and Zackary MacQueen and Boes got tied up and both players had to be separated after time had expired.

The X-Men will be back on the ice tomorrow when they host the Acadia Axemen. The Tigers will be back in the forum tomorrow night when they face the Saint Marys Huskies. Both games get underway at 7:00pm.

TORONTO – The men’s hockey team suffered their ninth loss of the season Friday night after falling 4-1 versus the York Lions on the road.

The Lions opened the scoring in the first five minutes of the game on a goal from Derek Sheppard. The Gaels responded as Andrew Wiebe (Thunder Bay, Ont.) netted the equalizer. Eric Ming(Williamstown, Ont.) and Patrick Downe (New Maryland, N.B.) were credited with the assists on Wiebe’s seventh of the season. York quickly regained the lead as Shayne Rover deposited the, what would be, game-deciding goal on a shorthanded effort.

Dylan Smoskowitz added a pair of tallies in the middle frame as the Lions went on to earn the 4-1 victory. Final shots for the night totalled 52-21 in favour of Queen’s. Goaltender Kevin Bailie (Belleville, Ont.) started in net for the Gaels and was charged with the 17 save loss while York’s Chris Perugini collected an impressive 51 save victory.

The Gaels (8-9-1) return to action Saturday night when they travel to St. Catharines, Ontario to take on the Brock Badgers (8-8-1).

With the win, Calgary improves to 14-7-0. Saskatchewan drops to 9-11-1.

Tot opened the scoring just 3:16 into the game on the power play for his first CIS goal. Dzielski gave the Dinos the 2-0 lead at 12:31 in the same frame when he tipped a shot from the point passed Huskie netminder Ryan Holfeld.

Saskatchewan cut the lead in half on the power play at 5:26 in the second period when a Zak Stebner shot from the point beat Kris Lazaruk. Six minutes later, the Huskies tied the game with a Jesse Ross goal at 11:31.

But before the end of the second period, Calgary would restore its two-goal lead. Collins tallied at 13:17 on a scramble in front of the net and Myers scored at 19:02 on a two-on-one.

The Huskies leading scorer Craig McCallum looked to give Saskatchewan life scoring just 55 seconds into the third period but Vandane quickly answered for the Dinos scoring at 3:19 on a Holfeld rebound. Grant added the Dinos’ sixth goal at 3:47.

Lazaruk made 35 saves in the win for the Dinos, while Holfeld stopped 23 at the other end of the ice in the loss for Saskatchewan.

The two teams will meet again Saturday night at Rutherford Rink. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. and can be viewed on canadawest.tv

CALGARY- The Mount Royal Cougars lost a With an aggressive and rough game 5-2 to the UBC Thunderbirds on Friday night. The loss drops the Cougars to 14-7-0 on the season. Tanner Olstad scored his first goal this season with the Cougars. Nate Fleming came out of the game with two goals for the Thunderbirds.

Quick on their skates both teams started off strong fighting hard for the puck. 1:49 into the game the Thunderbirds showed their skills scoring the first goal of the game, by Manraj Hayer. Shortly after the UBC Captain Ben Schmidt was called for hooking giving the Cougars an early power play. The Cougars struggled at first but came in with sharp goal by Tanner Olstad, his first goal of the season with the Cougars, tying the game 1-1.

Tyler Jewitt then came in with a killer shot going right past the blocker of goalie Eric Williams into the left corner, making it 2-1 for the Mount Royal. The Thunderbirds picked up the pace and were eventually rewarded on a great team passing play finished off by Nick Buonassisi tying the game 2-2.

By the end of the first period both teams were throwing their bodies in the game, considerably. The Cougars went on the power play heading into the second period but nothing came of it. Penalties for both sides became a factor in the second period. Both teams struggled to hit their intended targets on the power play. The Thunderbirds came out on top 22-17 shots on goal but the game remained tied 2-2. When play resumed both teams had issues hitting the net.

Dillon Wagner scored on a beautiful unassisted effort to put the Thunderbirds up 3-2 with less than ten minutes to play. The Cougars pressed hard but were unable to get the equalizer. UBC added two empty netters to take the match 5-2.

Mount Royal and UBC will conclude their weekend series tomorrow night, January 10 at 7 pm in the Flames Community Arenas.

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